


Oh, Brother

by genocideandgenesis



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family Angst, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hugs, Sibling drama, Siblings, hug it out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:08:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genocideandgenesis/pseuds/genocideandgenesis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel comes to Wendy to talk about sibling woes, and Wendy listens. Post-ATOTS/DDAMD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh, Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a-z prompt challenge with howlsmovingwalmart, "h is for hesitation." I like Wendy and Mabel and I want them to interact more. Also, howlsmovingwalmart challenged me to write something that had nothing to do with Stan on the road. Thanks for reading!

Wendy sat behind the register at the Mystery Shack. She was reading a magazine that looked like Wallaby Records’ Best Recs but was actually the latest issue of Gold Chains for Old Men, because Stan kept picking out all the worst ones. Wendy had taken to convincing Soos to fetch the mail before the “mailwere” showed up so she could cross out Stan’s orders and replace them with orders that indicated actual taste.

The vending machine started vibrating, scattering N&&Ns on the interior.

Wendy knew what that meant—she braced herself, hiding behind the magazine, as the vending machine door burst open, spewing a sour, sharp smell into the Shack gift shop.

“Agh, _gross!_ ” she shouted, pitching the magazine to the floor so she could cover her mouth and nose, squeezing her eyes shut.

Something drippy scampered across the floor and streaked outside as the door opened to the great outdoors.

Ford burst out from behind the vending machine, hair singed and standing in all directions. “It went that way!”

“Race you outside!” Dipper cried, legs scuttling double-time to keep up with Ford’s long stride as they ran across the gift shop and out into the afternoon.

The door slammed behind them, leaving a very concerned tourist in their wake.

Wendy shrugged, retrieving the magazine from the floor. “This happens all the time,” she said.

The tourist stared, wide-eyed.

“The smell is a lot worse than usual, though,” Wendy added. “Eeeeugh.”

Pointing at the door, the tourist asked, “Was that real?”

Wendy flipped to her page in the magazine. “Probably.”

The tourist took off, door slamming in her wake. “Wait for me!”

“Eesh,” Wendy said, shaking the magazine open.

The door opened again, and Wendy, expecting Mr. Pines to burst in with a new taxidermy project or maybe a mop, for the trail of goop on the floor. Instead, Mabel slipped in, closed the door behind her, walked behind the desk, and slid down to the floor.

Mabel was wearing a bright green sweater with a smiling orange knit into it.

Wendy put down the magazine. “Hey, Mabel. What’s up?”

Mabel poked at the floor. “Hi, Wendy.”

“What are you doing in here? Hiding from whatever’s going on out there?”

“I think Grunkle Stan is sad,” Mabel said.

If anything, Stan had recently been crankier than ever, making taxidermied monstrosities worse than usual, stomping through the Mystery Shack, ordering Wendy to _clean behind the register_ , of all things, raising his voice more than usual with tourists, and, most notably, crushing empty Pitt soda cans and pitching them into the woods. This was usually followed by him sheepishly retrieving them and then delivering them either to Gompers or the recycling bin, but his aim was, undeniably, getting better. But she hadn’t seen him _sad_.

“How come?” Wendy asked.

“He acts all happy and stuff, but when everyone’s out of the room, he looks sad. Sadder than usual,” Mabel clarified.

“What, is he crying over the Old Lady Boring Movie Channel again? He does that, Mabel. He’s probably fine.”

Mabel shook her head. “The other day he didn’t eat breakfast, and he _always_ eats breakfast. And he laughed a lot at something Dipper said but then stopped as soon as Dipper wasn’t paying attention. _And_ I got up really really early today and he was just standing on the porch.” Mabel looked up at Wendy, eyes wide and earnest above the artificial cheeriness of the orange on her sweater. “He was just staring into the woods!”

“Maybe he just saw something weird,” Wendy said, knowing that this wasn’t true. “I mean, there are those weird kinda attractive guys poking around out there.”

“Maybe.” Mabel wasn’t convinced.

Wendy dropped the act. “Look, Stan’s gotta have feelings sometimes, you know? He can’t always be planning some crazy get-rich-quick scheme.”

Mabel shrugged. “I don’t know, Wendy. I just don’t want him to be sad, but I don’t know how to talk to him about it, because he’ll just pretend it’s not happening!” She brightened. “Maybe I can just sneak up behind him and _tackle-hug_ him! That’ll work!”

She punched a fist in the air and let it hang there.

Her hand dropped back to her side. Her face fell. “No, it won’t.”

“Yeah, maybe a hug won’t work, but you could just tell him you’re worried, you know?”

Mabel sighed. “Does that ever work?”

“Sure it does. You’re honest with someone, they’re weird about it, you give it time, they’re honest back. At least, that usually works,” Wendy said, even as she could think of a few times when it didn’t.

“What if that doesn’t _work_ , Wendy? What if you’re honest with someone and they just don’t listen to you?”

“Ohhhh,” said Wendy, understanding. She slid down from where she was perched on the stool to sit on the floor with Mabel. “It’s not just Stan. It’s Dipper too.”

“He just—he spends all of his time with—with Great-Uncle Ford, and even when I want to hang out with him, it’s like I’m not important enough anymore! He didn’t even want to play interdimensional bowling with Grunkle Stan’s Pitt cans yesterday. I don’t know what happened to him—he met Ford and now they just read their books and chase stuff and act all weird!”

Wendy nodded. “I know, it’s like, someone switched out their brains with even _nerdier_ brains and then—kaboom!—multiplied it.”

“I guess,” said Mabel, not meeting Wendy’s eyes.

“Have you tried hanging out _with_ them?” Wendy suggested.

Mabel made a face. “I tried that, but—they just want to talk about the _journals_ and stuff. It felt—it felt like Dipper didn’t want me there. I brought Waddles and Ford didn’t even say hi to him! How can you not say hello to Waddles?”

“I know, right? Geez.”

Mabel picked at the splintering wooden floor. “I even tried playing Dipper’s Dungeons game, because it was fun that one time, but they acted like I wasn’t even there! And then I left and I don’t think they even noticed.”

“Ugh, that’s rough. Have you talked to Dipper about it?”

Mabel dragged her hands down her face and let them flop to the floor. “Yes! And he never _listens_! It’s just author this and journal that and I thought—I thought we were gonna spend the rest of the summer together! Like twins do.” Her mouth wobbled. “What if he leaves, Wendy?”

Wendy poked at Mabel’s shoes. “Hey, he’ll come around. He’s your brother! Man, I remember one time when my little brother started martial arts and he spent _all_ his time training and got mad if we wouldn’t fight with him. Actually, come to think of it, he tried to run away from home one time to go fight a ‘grand master.’ My dad had to bring him back on the roof of our car because he wouldn’t stop squirming!”

Mabel cracked a grin at that one.

“He’s just really caught up with your great uncle right now,” Wendy said. “But at the end of the day, you guys are still the Mystery Twins, y’know?”

Mabel looked down at the floor. “So were Grunkle Stan and Ford.”

Wendy didn’t know what to say to that, so she went for the next best option. She stood up and offered a hand to Mabel. “You know what you need? Pancakes. C’mon, let’s go to Greasy’s Diner.”

“It’s—upside down, isn’t it?”

She hadn’t thought of that. “I’ll make them for you myself! C’mon, let’s go inside.”

Just as Wendy opened the door to sneak out of the Shack gift shop, Stan opened it from the other side.

“Oh! Mr. Pines! I was just—”

“We’re making pancakes, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel said, popping out from behind Wendy. “I bet you want some, too! Pancakes make _everybody_ happy!”

Stan’s eyes widened. “Pancakes?” Then he realized that Wendy was standing in front of him. “Hey, Wendy, aren’t you supposed to be working? That cash register isn’t gonna fill itself!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault.” Wendy hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “Your brother ran through and wrecked the place, and Mabes and I are hungry.”

“Pleeeeaaasseeeee, Grunkle Stan? Can you make Stancakes?”

Stan scratched the back of his head. “Uh, all right, if you really want. But then back to work! You can’t just leave the gift shop.”

“I would never dream of it,” Wendy lied.

“I’ve got my eye on you,” Stan lied back.

Ten minutes later Wendy was lounging in the Pines’ kitchen while Stan poured pancake batter and Mabel added the facial features, giggling.

“More cakes! More cakes!” Mabel chanted, trying to grab the ladle, while Stan fended her off.

Stan served up the first batch of Stancakes. “They look like my face! Thanks to Mabel.”

“Making pancakes is the tastiest form of art!” Mabel beamed, helping herself to three of them.

Wendy drowned her pancakes in syrup and wolfed them down. “Well, I should go back to work,” she said, pushing back her chair and standing up. Forget the cash register: the _magazine_ wasn’t going to read itself.

“Thanks, Mr. Pines,” said Wendy, and then, grinning at Mabel, said, “Pancakes _always_ make work better. Right, Mabel?”

“Right,” said Mabel.

Stan was back at the stove, pouring more batter.

Just as Wendy was leaving, Mabel jumped down from her chair and threw her arms around one of Stan’s legs.

“Whaaa? What is this? Mabel? What is this sensation!”

“It’s a hug, Grunkle Stan!”

Wendy hung back out of sight just long enough to see Stan put down the ladle and bend down to scoop Mabel up into a hug.

“We’re gonna be all right, kiddo,” she heard him say.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for giving this a read! Leaving comments is always super appreciated. :)


End file.
